Monthly Archives: July 2019

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IIHS Recognizes the 2020 Kia Telluride for Safety

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Posted in Kia Dealer in Miami, Miami Kia Dealer, South Miami Kia

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A little over a year ago, Kia Motors was quickly becoming the safest car brand in America. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) had previously rated eight Kia Motors models, each of which received either a Top Safety Pick or a Top Safety Pick +, and other organizations like AMCI Global and U.S. News & World Report both recognized several Kia vehicles for their safety. Now in 2019, Kia Motors is once again has the most vehicles with a Top Safety Pick and/or Top Safety Pick Plus ratings from the IIHS that any other brand in the auto market with the addition of the 2020 Kia Telluride to the lineup.

“We are extremely proud of this significant achievement…We constantly strive to build the best quality and safest vehicles possible and being the automaker with the most TSP and TSP+ ratings is ultimately gratifying.” – Orth Hedrick, Executive Director, Car Planning & Technology, Kia Motors America

Quickly following the 2020 Kia Soul received a Top Safety Pick Plus award from the IIHS, the 2020 Kia Telluride also recently got its gold. The newest distinction between the large 2020 Kia Telluride SUV and other vehicles comes from the ratings it received during IIHS crash tests. As we have discussed in the past, the IIHS evaluates the safety of a vehicle based on crash avoidance and mitigation with six tests – small overlap front, moderate overlap front, each side, roof strength, and head restraints. IIHS also tests for crash-prevention and provides a headlight rating.

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Kia Forte Named Highest Ranking in 2019 J.D. Power APEAL Study

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Posted in Kia Dealer in Miami, Miami Kia Dealer, South Miami Kia

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Kia Motors has been getting a lot of good news lately, and we’re just going to keep hearing more with this automaker. The most recent news comes from trusted organization J.D. Power. As we enter the second half of 2019, J.D. Power will be releasing more and more data collected from its various studies. Today, we’re taking a look at the results of their 2019 Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout (APEAL) Study, and the Kia Forte compact sedan, one of Kia Motors America’s best-selling models, earned an award and was the highest ranked vehicle in the compact car segment.

The 2019 J.D. Power APEAL Study

Every year, the J.D. Power APEAL Study is conducted. This year, the study spanned from February 2019 to March 2019. Surveys were sent out purchasers and lessees of new 2019 model-year vehicles after at least 90 days of ownership. Out of all the surveys sent out, nearly 68,000 surveys were completed and returned. Taking a more emotional approach to the study, the 2019 J.D. Power APEAL Study measures an owner or lessees’ emotional attachment and level of excitement in relation to their vehicle, from applying pressure to the throttle and the vehicle’s response to their satisfaction with the vehicle overall. To build a complete picture of this, the study is based on more than 90 vehicle attributes that fall into ten categories: driving dynamics, visibility and safety, engine/transmission, audio/communication/entertainment/navigation, seats, HVAC, exterior, interior, storage and space, and fuel economy.

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Kia and Hyundai Develop New Flex Brake Technology

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Posted in Kia Dealer in Miami, Miami Kia Dealer, South Miami Kia

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Although Kia Motors has discussed going into the world of high-performance with a new GT lineup, with vehicles like the Kia Forte GT, Kia Rio GT, and 2020 Kia Soul GT, the automaker has also claimed that Kia Motors will become the world’s newest all-electric automaker. Still, even with the likes of the 2020 Kia Soul EV bringing style and attitude to the lineup, Kia Motors knows better than to dive right in and scrap its current lineup of winners. For one, the 2020 Kia Telluride just came out and spearheaded Kia Motors sales in March. Second, the automaker wouldn’t be as well known as it is today if it wasn’t for the successful and safe lineup of Kia Motors vehicles. With that being said, Kia Motors isn’t yet giving up on gasoline combustion vehicles, and their latest technology with Hyundai Motor Group proves that.

It’s called the “Flex Brake”, and most simply put, Flex Brake technology allows drivers to adjust the braking power of the vehicle when applying pressure to the brake pedal based on their preference. In other words, “Flex Brake” is a pseudo-power-braking system where the consumer controls how much power is required on their end. In conjunction with Hyundai Motor Group, the parent company of Kia Motors, the two developed this new brake technology, and it’s surprisingly the first of its kind.

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Kia Motors Gets New Hybrid Transmission

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Posted in Miami Kia Dealer, South Miami Kia

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Automakers aren’t just in a race to make the most efficient vehicle out on the market, they’re constantly in a race for better tech for their vehicles. With self-driving cars still far out in the future, alternative fuel has quickly become the goal automakers have their sights set on. Some automakers are just getting into the biz, but other automakers, like Kia Motors, have been producing hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and electric vehicles for several years. Sometimes, this technology can bleed from one vehicle type to another, like the recent Hyundai and Kia Motors development of “Flex Brake” technology that allows drivers to adjust the braking power of the brake pedal, similar to adjusting the regenerative braking feature on plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles. Next on the list is to improve the future of hybrid models, and Hyundai and Kia have seen to that as well with their new technological development – Active Shift Control (ASC) transmission.

Doesn’t sound familiar, does it? That would be because Hyundai Motor Group, the parent company of Kia Motors, has developed the world’s first Active Shift Control (ASC) transmission technology. It’s a new technology that, in short, improves shift times, improves fuel economy, and conserves energy.

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New Kia Seltos Already Doing Well Overseas

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Posted in Kia Dealer in Miami, Miami Kia Dealer, South Miami Kia

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The Kia Seltos, the latest compact SUV from Kia Motors to be revealed is making a lot of noise on the other side of the world. We weren’t too keen on talking too much about the Kia Seltos. When the new Kia Seltos was revealed in India, there wasn’t a guarantee of a global release, and many of its features were still pretty tight-lipped. Regardless, Kia Motors made the Kia Seltos available for a pre-booking, or reservation, in mid-July 2019 and on the first day, the Seltos generated an overwhelming response of 6,046 reservations. The last we heard of a large preorder day like that was with the 2020 Jeep Gladiator. If the Kia Seltos is that popular, maybe we’ll see it stateside after all.

“Getting such an overwhelming response from customers across the 160 cities where we are present, makes us elated. Our mid-SUV, the Seltos is BSVI compliant from day 1 and is available in both petrol and diesel, with both Manual and Automatic options in all powertrains, it makes it an attractive proposition…We are committed to the Indian market. With our most modern automotive plant having 3 lakh capacity, we are fully prepared to make on-time deliveries.” – Manohar Bhat, Vice President, and Head – Sales & Marketing, Kia Motors India

A global release is still not official, so we don’t know much about a starting MSRP for the Seltos if it were to be released in America, but we do know quite a bit based on the reservations and prior reveals. Interestingly, the Kia Seltos is broken down into a two trim series where each trim has several sub-types making up its place in the lineup. With three engine options and four different transmissions, the Seltos comes out to seven variants – four powered by the diesel engine (HTE, HTK+, HTX, HTX+) and three powered by a gasoline engine (GTK, GTX, GTX+).

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Take Another Look at the 2020 Kia Telluride

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Posted in Miami Kia Dealer, South Miami Kia

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People keep trying to talk up the Hyundai Palisade, but a lot of them are falling into that “New is Better” mindset. That isn’t always the truth. Take The Matrix sequels as a perfect example – what was that, seriously? Sometimes the original is the better contender, and when it comes to building out a larger SUV market, the 2020 Kia Telluride got their first and it’s not going anywhere. When looking for a large, three-row SUV of luxury, consumers know where to look – Kia Motors.

The 2020 Kia Telluride doesn’t have to boast luxury to look like a luxury SUV, and it surely has a nice starting price for such a large vehicle. Starting at $44,995 (plus destination fee) is pretty fair considering the competition. For some, the large size of the SUV may give an uneasy feeling, being that this is the largest SUV in the Kia Motors lineup, but the engineering team at Kia Motors has been doing a lot of fine-tuning over the years, and this large SUV drives like a crossover. Furthermore, it comes with various driving modes – Click into “Sport” and things get interesting, especially if you opted-in for all-wheel drive.

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2020 Kia Telluride VS 2020 Cadillac XT6

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Today, we’re taking another look at the 2020 Kia Telluride SUV. After our comparison between the 2020 Kia Telluride and upcoming Hyundai Palisade, consumers were curious about how well the Telluride stacks up with other SUVs built to seat five or more people. It seems the 2020 Cadillac XT6 wants to put up a fight, and the 2020 Kia Telluride may welcome the challenge. Let’s put these two up on the board and see how they compare.

Power and Engineering

Pop open the hood of each SUV, and we can see some differences between the two. Under the hood of the 2020 Kia Telluride is a 3.8-liter V6 engine capable of generating 291 horsepower and 262 lb-ft of torque. With an eight-speed automatic transmission paired with the engine, the Telluride is also looking at a nice fuel economy of 20 mpg in the city and 26 mpg on the highway. Plus, the Kia Telluride offers consumers a variety of driving modes and the choice of an all-wheel drivetrain.

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Kia Develops Security for Keyless Cars

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Posted in Kia car dealer, Miami Kia Dealer, South Miami Kia

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Cybersecurity isn’t just something computer owners have to worry about these days. It’s a growing concern with smartphones and automobiles with smart-phone integration. Although somewhat far away, one day, automakers will have to find ways to protect consumers from a hacker taking control of an autonomous vehicle. Today, consumers are still concerned about losing their keys, and with most modern vehicles only requiring a key fob, if you lose your keys you can say goodbye to your car! That’s why Kia Motors just launched a simple utility for consumers who are always misplacing their keys.

The KiaSafe

They’re calling it the “KiaSafe”, a case designed by Kia Motors made to protect modern cars from the technology used by car thieves to break into vehicles. With key fobs acting as the gatekeeper to starting the engine, the KiaSafe case acts as a second layer of security. Today, if a car thief obtains an owner’s key fob, they can use relay attacks to pick up the frequency of a keyless entry system and then gain access to their target.

Thatcham Research, a UK-based research center similar to our Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), is UK’s only not-for-profit organization based around the safety of vehicles. Recently, Thatcham conducted security tests on the keyless entry systems of new cars. During their testing, three of the seven cars studied were found to be vulnerable. With this, auto manufacturers took notice and looked into their own security systems.

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2020 Kia Soul Receives Top Safety Pick+ from IIHS

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Back in 2018, Kia Motors was quickly becoming the safest car brand in America, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. A little over a year ago, eight Kia Motors vehicles received a “Top Safety Pick” or “Top Safety Pick+” rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, with a range of vehicles receiving their merits. Among them was the 2018 Kia Soul compact car, having received “Top Safety Pick+” rating. Now in 2019, the completely redesigned 2020 Kia Soul has also earned Top Safety Pick Plus (TSP+) status.

Let’s have a quick refresh on the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, or IIHS. The IIHS is a trusted organization for rating vehicle safety. Known for their intense impact crash-simulations that test a vehicle on a variety of circumstances, the IIHS is able to evaluate the safety of a vehicle based on crash avoidance and mitigation. The IIHS puts all new vehicles through the five following tests: small overlap front, moderate overlap front, side, roof strength, and head restraints.

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2021 Kia Sorento Prototype Spied

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2019 isn’t even over and automakers are already letting automobile spies get shots of their 2021 models in camouflage. That’s okay though, we always like getting some juicy information before it hits the streets, pun intended. 2019 may be the year that Kia Motors beats their drum over the 2020 Kia Soul with the New Species of Soul marketing campaign, but in 2018, they had another ad campaign all about the 2019 Kia Sorento and the new features it brings. Now, the latest spy shots are giving us a glimpse at the next-generation Kia Sorento, and we’re getting a little psyched.

The new 2021 Kia Sorento is going to be more than just a crossover – it’s going to be redefined. Let’s face it, the Kia Sorento has gotten a little lost in the lineup of SUVs and crossovers from an automaker that keeps pumping them out every year. It’s time that this crossover got its own look, and with a more stylish appearance, the Kia Sorento might catch a little Telluride fever.

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